Women and unequal voice in governors’ races: a study of campaign contributions

Abstract

ABSTRACT This research note investigates women’s political participation and political influence as donors for contests typically neglected by American politics researchers: gubernatorial elections. Our original study of individual contributions (2000–2018) finds that women are underrepresented as donors to gubernatorial elections with large differences across the two parties. Moreover, gendered patterns indicate that women – of both parties – tend to be more financially supportive of women gubernatorial candidates than men. Men outnumber women as donors in both primary and general elections and outpace women in the total amount contributed. Meanwhile, men outnumber women as gubernatorial candidates and unlike other levels of office, women are not increasing as a share of governors. We argue that women’s political voice, as expressed through contributions, is missing from these important state elections, with implications for public policy and women’s descriptive representation.